Drier



April 14, 1.925. 1,533,480

W. ST-RICKER DRIER Filed May 25, 1924 3 Sheets-Shoot 1 William Sir/Q7162:

Wiiness: I

April 14, 1925.

1,533,480 W. STRICKER DRIER Filed May 23, 1924 3 Sheetsi-Shut 5 Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

WILLIAM STRICKER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

DRIER.

Application filed May 23, 1924. Serial No. 715,319.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLTAM S'rn omni, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas (it v. in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to driers and-while it may be employed to advantage for drying various articles, in the present instance, I have shown it arranged more particularly for drying prints ofdiiferent descriptions, such as blue-prints photo prints, and especially what is known tot-he trade as glossy prints, which, on being taken from the usual bath and while still wet, are applied to the enameled surfaces of thin sheet metal plates and placed in the drying process.

One object of the invention is to provide a drier and means for economically circulat ing a large volume of air around all of the prints to quickly dry the same in a uniform manner, the air being heated to hasten the drying process but the temperature being kept at a relatively low degree to prevent inarringthe brilliancy of the glossy surface of said prints.

Other objects will hereinafter appear, and in order that the invention may be fully understood, reference will now be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

F ig. 1 is a front elevation of the drier.

Fi 2 is a rear elevation of the drier with the fan removed.

Fig. 3 is an irregular vertical section on line III-III of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line IV,IV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an irregular horizontal section on line VV of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on line VI- VI of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of one of the plates with a. number of photographs applied theretopreparatory to being dried.

Tn carrying out the invention, I employ a vertically-disposed container 2 mounted upon legs 4 and consisting of a front wall 6, a rear wall 8, double side walls 10, and a pyramidal top 12.

Access is had to the interior of the con- -tainer 2 through a front door 13 mounted on hinges 16 and provided with a fastener 18 whereby it may be secured in closed position. The door 13 is provided at its inner drier to hasten the side with a V-shaped air deflector 19 and windows 20, through which latter the drying process may be observed.

The rear wall 8 is provided at its upper portion with an opening 22 covered with a screen 24 for diffusing air forced therethrough and throughout the drying chamber 25, in the upper portion of the container 2, as will hereinafter appear. The double walls 10 are spaced apart to provide flues 25, which extend from a baflie plate'28 to the top 12 of the container 2. The baffle plate 28 is corrugated and supported onbra'ckets 30 a suitable distance abovethc lower margins of the front and rear walls 6 and 8 and the two outer side walls 10, to provide a combustion chamber 32 which is provided with suitable heating means such as a burner 34 equipped with a valve 36. I The combustion chamber 32 is open at its bottom portion 37 to admit a large volume of fresh air to be warmed and has an outlet 38 extending through the rear wall 8. The outlet 38 is spaced below the baflie plate 28 to prevent the air in the combustion chamber 32 from escaping until warmed and communicates with a warm air duct 40 at the rear of the container 2. Said air duct 40 has an inlet 42' at its lower end and an outlet 44 at its upper end which terminates at the bottom of the opening 22 in the upper portion of the rear wall 8.

46 and 48 designate shutters adjustably secured to the upper portions of the rear wall 8 and the warm air duct 40, respectively, so that a portion of the air forced into the drying chamber 25 through the opening 22 may be out off when desired. The

shutters 46 and 48 are provided with slots 50 and 52, so that they may be adjusted up and down on stud bolts 54 and 56, which are provided with thumb nuts 58 and 60 whereby the respective shutters 46 and 48 may be secured at any point of their adjustment.

Air is forced in a large volume through the opening 22 by suitable means such as a fan '62 driven, preferably, by an electric motor 64 mounted on a support 66 at the rear of said opening 22.

Arranged in the lower portion of the container 2 and spaced above the baffle plate 22 is a perforated distributing plate 68, above which is spaced a tray 70 having an open mesh bottom 72 and removably mounted upon slides 74. Said tray 70 constitutes the bottom of the drying chamber 25 which occupies all of the upper portion of the container 2.

.80 desi nates a rack arranged in the drying cham er and consisting of lower and upper trou h-shaped slideways 82, supported by brac tets 84 secured to the two inner side walls 10. The slideways 82 are spaced at slight' distance apart to admit front and rear rows of vertically disposed sustaining rods 86, which limit the bending or bowing of the plates 88 uponwhich the prints A are applied preparatory to being subjected to the drying process.

In practice theprints A to be dried are removed from the usual bath and while still wet are applied with the glossy printed side to the enameled surfaccsof the plates 88, which are then slid into position in the slideways 82. Each upper and lower slideway 82 is of sufficient width to admit two plates. 88 which are placed back to back, so that the prints A will be on the outer sides where they will be exposed to the warm air circulated throughout the drying chambers 25. A portion of the heated air in the combustion chamber 32 passes upwardly through the flues 26 to the top 12 of the container 2 where it is deflected downwardly by said top 12 and portions of thereon. The remainder of the heated air from the combustion chamber 2 escapes through the outlet 38 into the air duct 40 and on discharging from the outlet 44 is forced by the fan 62 into the drying chamber 25 and between the plates 88 and against the door 20. As the warm air impinges against the door 20 it is directed upwardly and downwardly by the V-shaped deflector 19 and then returns through the opening 22,

as indicated by the arrows, Fig. 4, carrying off the moisture from the prints A as it escapes through said opening 22. The volume of air flowing upwardly through the duct 40 is augmented by fresh air drawn in through the inlet 42, which intermingles with and is warmed by the air from the combustion chamber 32, so that the fan 62 will have a large volume of warm air to circulate between and around the plates 88 for the purpose of quickly drying the prints A. As the air is forced by the fan 62 through the screen 24, it isdiflused uniformly throughout the drying chamber 25 and dries all of the prints A at substantially the same time. Warm air radiating from the baffle plate 28 passes upwardly into the drying chamber 25 through the distributing plate 68 and the tray 72 and combines with the warm air discharged from the upper portions of the flues 10 and the air duct 40, in uniformly drying the prints A. By referring to the arrows Fig. 4, it will be noted that the warm air discharged from the duct 40 passes completely through the drying chamber 25 the caused to spread over the upper through the door 20 at the the plates 88 and the prints A second time, first in its forward passage to the door 20, and second in its return to'the opening 22, thereby effecting econom in the use of fuel at the burner 34. Shou d it be found that the prints A at the upper portions of the plates 88 are drying faster than the others, the volume of warm air passing through the upper portion of the drying chamber 25 is reduced by lowering the shut ter 46, and should it be found that the lower prints A are drying faster than the others the volume of warm air passing through the lower portion of the drying chamber 25 is reduced by raising theshutter 56. Thus it will be understood that simultaneous drying of the prints may be had and the delay incident to some of the prints remaining damp longer than the others is obviated.

As the prints A begin to dry they contract and cause the plates 88 to become bowed, which operation however, is checked by the sustaining rods 86 before the upper margins of the plates 88 can become disengaged from the upper slideways '82 and permit said plates 88 to fall over and possibly mar the prints A. Some of the prints on becoming dry, fall off the plates 88 but are caught by the tray 70, which can be removed time the plates 88-are taken out. a

' From the foregoing-description it is apparent that I have provided a drier embodymg the advantages abovep'ointed out, and while I have shown and described the preferred construction, combination and arrangement of parts, I reserve the right to- ,make such changes as properly fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: a

1. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof, means for forcing air into the container through said opening, and a warm air duct leading from the lower portion of the container for discharging warm air to be forced into said opening.

2. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof and a combustion chamber in its lower portion, means for forcing air into the container through said opening, and a warm air duct leading .from the combustion chamber and discharging warm air to be forced into said opening.

3. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof, means for forcing air into the container through said opening, and a warm air duct leading from the lower portion of the container and discharging warm air to be forced into said opening and having an o ening in its lower end for the admission 0 fresh air to become intermixed with the warm air.

4. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof, means for forcing air into the container through said opening, a plurality of adjustable shutters associated with said opening to close portions thereof, and means for securing said shutters at any point of their adjustment.

5. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof, a rack in said container adapted to hold sheet metal plates, means for forcing air into the container through said opening, and a warm air duct leading from the lower portion of the container for discharging warm air to be forced into said opening.

(3. In a drier a container having an opening in one wall thereof, a door to the container opposite said opening, means for forcing air into the container through said o 'iening, and a deflector fixed to the inner side of said door for deflecting the air in opposite directions.

7. In a drier a container having a dryin chamber, upper and lower trough-shaped slideways supported in said drying chamber and adapted to support sheet metal plates, vertical sustaining rods extending between said trough-shaped slideways, and" means for circulating air through the drying chamber.

8. In a drier a vertically-disposed container having a combustion chamber in its lower portion, a burner in said combustion chamber, a perforated distributing plate disposed above said combustion chamber, and arack disposed above said distributing plate and adapted to support sheet metal plates in vertical position, for the purpose described.

9. In a driei a vertically-disposed container having a combustion chamber in its lower portion, a burner in said combustion chamber, a perforated distributing plate dis posed above said combustion chamber, a trayhaving an open mesh bottom and disposed above said distributing plate, and a rack disposed above said tray and adapted to support sheet metal plates in vertica position, for the purpose described.

' 10. In a drier a vertically-disposed container having a combustion chamber in its lower portion and a drying chamber in its upper portion, vertical fluesleading from said combustion chamber to the drying chamber, a corrugated bafiie plate for directing the products of combustion from the combustion chamber into said flues, and a rack arranged in said drying chamber and adapted to support plates in vertical position, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

' WILLIAM STRICKER. Witnesses:

L. J. FISCHER, F. C. FISCHER. 

